adventures in raising backyard chickens… and knitting

Monthly Archives: August 2015

Well, I managed to break Frances of her broodiness. It only took a week of locking her out of the coop during the day… especially the last 2 days, which reached almost 100 degrees. And I did dip her in cool water on one of those days, which may have helped, or cooled her down from the heat at the very least. The day after that she started roosting with Alberta at night again… and a few days later she started laying again. Yay!

However, (she is SO determined to keep me on my toes) now she has broken her beak! It is not completely broken off, just cracked near the end, but it’s pushed over at an angle, and I’m not sure whether I should do something about it. Have any other of you fellow chicken owners had to deal with this problem?

I hear that their beaks will grow back like fingernails, but there is possible danger of it becoming infected, or making it hard for them to eat and drink normally… and I’ve read about several treatments, including filing the rough edges, applying disinfectant, and even super-gluing it back together, but I also read that you shouldn’t super glue it if it’s gotten dirty. I can’t tell by looking at it what is dirt, dried blood, or blackberries (they’ve been eating a lot of blackberries) Here’s what it looks like from both sides:

Thoughts? Experiences? Words of advice? And why, oh why, is it always Frances?

Update: right after I wrote this I went to check on her and it had broken off completely. I fed her some yogurt to help with infection. Should I do anything else to clean it? And maybe mash up her food with water for awhile?

Definitely some blood AND dirt in there now. But she is still wanting to eat and drink.